Jack - 18 months

Happy 1.5, little man!  Elise was so excited for you to turn one and a half so that we could all be ____ and a half at the same time.  Jack, you are such a fun and adorable little guy.  You have boundless energy and can always make us smile and laugh.  We love you!

Stats:  Jack had his 18 month appointment a few days ago and is 33.25 inches tall (75th percentile) and weighs 22 lbs 11 oz (10th percentile, still), so he's hanging on to his tall and thin stature.  He wears size 7 shoes and can still wear most of his 12-18 month clothes, as well as his 18-24 month clothes.  His last incisor popped through this month so we're done with teeth until the 2 year molars.  We will be switching to size 4 disposable diapers as soon as the 3s run out.

Eating:  Jack is a decent eater at most meals but occasionally will barely eat anything, which can be very frustrating (especially when it's something that he usually likes).  I try to offer 3-4 different foods per meal (one meat/protein, one vegetable, one fruit, and one pasta/rice/bread/starch) and just let him eat whatever he wants.  I don't break out anything else unless he finishes everything, and I don't stress if he barely wants anything.  Sometimes we can trick him into eating more if he thinks he's eating from our plates (even if it is the same exact thing on his tray).  He likes to play with a spoon or fork but isn't proficient yet.  Favorite foods include:  offel (waffle), seeyul (cereal), take (steak), rahroni (macaroni), pahtah (pasta), granola balls (almond butter, honey, oats, and flax seed), most fruits, orange vegetables, etc.  Lately he doesn't want cheese by itself but will eat it if it is melted on a tortilla or piece of bread.  He still does not like green vegetables, even when they are covered in a cheese sauce.  Oh well.  He insists on feeding himself his squeezy packs and Sili Squeezes, which can be interesting and definitely requires supervision.  Favorite snacks include saisins (raisins), caaan (pecan), cacka (crackers), taw (veggie straws), and whatever anyone else is eating.    

Sleeping:  Jack is still a great sleeper and had ZERO issues with daylight savings time.  I was so proud. I knew Elise would be easy because she loves to sleep in, but I was pleasantly surprised that in the days leading up to daylight savings time, we got him going to bed a little later and sleeping almost an hour later than normal.  It helped that he took several really long naps that week (and I didn't wake him up like I normally would).  He wakes up around 7-7:15, takes a nap from about 1 - 3:30 or 4, and goes to bed around 7-7:15.  He's been very easy to put to bed this month.  After we read books, we ask him if he is ready to get in bed, and he answers "yes" about 98% of the time :)

Learning:  Jack's vocabulary continues to grow like crazy.  He says over 200 single words and started combining 2 words together at about 17.5 months.  Favorite new words include "bitamins" (vitamins), "tankoo" (thank you), "stop sign", "funny" (when he's being funny, followed by a laugh), "helicopter" (we see the news helicopter often), "monitor", "pinecone", "steak" (the boy is obsessed), "black bean", "chipotle", "aaaaamen!", "potty", etc.  Some typical phrases include:
"Night night, slug."
"Play ball please."
"Dada football" (when wanting Mike to play football with him),
"Mama phone" (identifying my phone)
"help please"
"Mimi salsa" (Mimi likes to add salsa to her food)
"two ____" (when he sees two of something, like two trucks, two cars, etc)

He recently greeted Mike in the morning with "Big poop.  Gross."  Earlier this week, we spent 20 minutes chasing the recycling truck around the neighborhood while he repeated "Running.  Tee Tie Ting Tuck.  Hi!" over and over again.  He refers to many of his books by name, like "Night night (Good Night Gorilla), "Tuh tucks" (Tough Trucks), "Fish" (Rainbow Fish), "Moon" (Goodnight Moon), "Bible", "fash" (Flashing Fire Engines).  

He correctly answers lots of questions, like "What is your name?", "What is that?", "Who is that?",  and communication is made much easier because he will answer  yes/no questions accurately.  He says "mine" to lay claim to something that belongs to him or is being carried by him.  He can name about 5 letters, a few numbers, and several shapes and always tries to say AEIOU or EIEIO when he sees letters.  He thinks that most things are green :)  The other day I asked him how old he was, and he responded with "Two!".  Ha.

Jack loves music and tries to sing along with favorite songs, especially in the car.  He has picked up on the Apple Apple A A A concept from listening to the song quite often follows the pattern and will pick a word and say it twice and then say the beginning sound three times (like "Daddy Daddy duh duh duh" or "side (slide) side suh suh suh" or "baby baby buh buh buh").

Playing:  Jack is definitely a little boy.  He loves trucks, trains, cars, planes, balls, climbing, sliding, chasing, and running.  He still loves the zoo, aquarium, children's museum, going for walks, exploring in the forest, playing at the park, and collecting sticks.  At home, he especially enjoys the play house, cozy coupe, his blocks and shape sorters and boy toys.  If anyone even mentions the B-A-T-H word, he gets so excited he can hardly stand it and races upstairs screaming "tath time!  tath time!"  

Personality:  This is such a cute age for the little man.  We love hearing his voice and watching him be so proud of himself for learning new things.  He loves to cuddle... when it is his idea.  He often says "hi" to strangers and enjoys playing around other kids and in the nursery at church.  He loves his peeps and especially enjoyed Mimi's and Michelle's visits this month!  This age doesn't come without tantrums though... he definitely has a little temper and can get very upset when we leave somewhere or when he doesn't get something that he wants.  Stay tuned for a future post of the pictures that Michelle took when she visited last week.  I can't wait to share them... she did an awesome job!  For now, here are some pictures that I attempted last weekend.  Someone is not a big fan of pausing and smiling at the camera.  We love you, little buddy!

Halloween Giraffe